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February 20, 2004

fixing things...

We've been pulling down old plaster and trapping the feral kittens living under the house.

Key-Key the stumpy-tailed calico.


Aug.'03


Aug.'03


Feb.'04


Feb.'04

3 Little Kittens

So sometime in the fall Momma Cat had a litter of 3 kittens. When it got cold, they came to live in our crawl space. This is ok w/ us -- we like cats, and maybe they'll eat the pigeons that we hate so much (for good reason). With the aid of a neighbor and her traps, we caught the kittens and had them spade/neutered at the SPCA. It was fun (in a way) and free, and we got to find out if they are girls or boys; now they can be named. We've name the runt, a small all-black kitten, Teeny, the normal sized black+white boy is named Weenie, and the calico w/ the stumpy tail is named Key-Key. We've taken to feeding them on the back porch, and it has been neat having a set of outside cats, too.

Something to know: if you see a stray cat and it's ear has been notched, this means that it has probably been trapped, fixed, and released.

Future Dining Room

• The current plaster has had an unfortunate texture applied in an attempt to cover cracking and patchwork.
• We can add much needed insulation.
• We can upgrade ancient wiring.
• We can now be certain that at least 2 rooms are free of mummified rats*.

The big action of the past 2 weeks has been starting to renovate the future dining room. We've been pulling down the plaster and lathe from the walls and ceiling, and then putting up insulation. Before we dry-wall, we'll also be re-wiring, but that is a little ways off.

Since the pictures to the right were taken, we've pulled down everything in the dining room and have started on the adjacent bathroom as well. This will be our calling for at least the next week or two...

Our rather innefficient process consists of tearing down a significant amount of plaster and lather, and then hauling the plaster to the pickup truck via a large plastic trash cans, and then repeat repeat repeat... This is working for now, but we can't do the whole house like this -- something will have to change. We've been throwing the lathe out of the window in the side yard and have made quite an amazing pile for just one room.

It turns out that the fireplace looks really nice w/ the plaster removed as well (luckily...). Ronni took a few chunks off the side, and the brick peaking through was immediately, obviously a good thing for the room. This space will be totally different that the dirty, lumpy, chalky-white rectangle that it was.

There is something very satisfying about tearing down the old, loose, lumpy, dusty plaster. It has been a disconcerting finally seeing the wires that have carrying the electricity for the last ~80 years -- I'll be glad when all of the knob and tube has been replaced. It has also been really satisfying to see how the house is put together, and to discover that everything seems to be in good shape.

It certainly feels good to be clearing out the mouse nests and spider-webs, too. And, as I was pulling the ceiling in the bathroom, I finally got to experience having a mummified rat fall onto my head! Thankfully I didn't know at the time what had occured or I'm sure that I would've peed my pants or something.

Posted by john m at February 20, 2004 10:01 AM

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